Federer battles into Australian Open third round

Defending champion Roger Federer reached the Australian Open third round for a 20th straight year Wednesday but was made to battle hard by Britain's Dan Evans before winning 7-6 (7/5) 7-6 (7/3) 6-3.

The ageless 20-time Grand Slam champion, who is gunning for a record seventh Melbourne Park title and third in a row, had breezed past Denis Istomin in the first round, but was given a much tougher examination by the world number 189.

"I think if I could have pulled away early in the match it might have been different," said the 37-year-old Swiss master who needed 2hr 35min to get past his 28-year-old opponent.

Evans, whose ranking plummeted from a career-high 41 after he was slapped with a year-long ban for testing positive to cocaine in April 2017, played almost flawless tennis to stave off a set point on his way to forcing a first set tie-break.

He even had the temerity to lead 5-3 in the breaker before Federer stepped up a gear and reeled off the next four points with a cry of "Come ...